Hands up!!

In emptiness and void, the words spoken and made.
The light triggered and lingered, His words triggering day and night.
From void He part the skies and seas...birds and fishes.

From Emptiness and vacuum, He birthed the trees,herbs and bees...moulded the beasts of the earth.
Then man!...He made man in an image like non other. With a sigh, he breathed life into him...us!
 He made us in the image of Him.

Him!...whose words formed life,
Him!...who speaks and darkness fleas,
Him who is the creator, the lord of all hosts!

...then from the depths of darkness, the devil beckoned and stole...crawled and conned man.
Man fell! Fell from the bliss of the almighty in search of vanity amis! The search was meaningless, leading to destruction.
The path the devil made a pact with, in all the vanities of the world, desires of the flesh...the love of sin!

Then!...in emptiness and void, God's word spoken and made.
The word became flesh, flesh like us...God like Him!
The word, the Messiah, the truth and the light!

He walked upon the earth and reached out to us in the depths of darkness, beckoned to us, loved us in all our filth!

So we lift up our eyes to see the light, the light of our salvation shine before us in the renewal of life. Him in us, our hope of glory!
Him in us, an everlasting life!
To him we lift our hands!

Yes! To him, we will lift our HANDS UP!!

Ivy-Pearl

The Decay of the Academy

On that ill fated day
The moment charlatans walked through its doors
Their wares desecrating the sanctity of our space
That moment the academy turned into a bazaar
Where fake scrolls, letters, and diplomas could be bought for a song

The philosophers and sages had no say
One by one they floated out through emerging cracks in the tower
As quick as particles energised in a heated crucible
With young scholars left to their own devices

Fungi and mould took over the crevices
Then the ground shook and a mighty wind blew
Finally foreboding tunes filled the ambiance
To signal the decay of the academy

Valentine's Day Haiku

On Valentine's Day

I dream of Ghanaian chocolate

And your loving hug

Let Peace Be

When nightmares of our virulent past-

sharp knives of discord-

threaten to sever our bonds of unity,

when wars and strife

greet from the left and the right,

do not cave in, brother;

hold fast to the things that keep hope alive.

Let peace be,

let it be.

Let peace be

lo, let it be

still as the calm waters of Bosomtwi,

unperturbed as a graceful princess in her beauty sleep.

Do not stir.

Stoke no fire with your wild thoughts,

cooking strange tales of things unperceived.

Restrain yourself

from adding fuels of emotional prejudice to the destroyers’ fire,

burning our aspirations to ashes!

Be bold to quench the raging infernos stoked by single stories

and save tomorrow’s golden dreams.

Let peace be,

Please let it be!

Resist their plans to make you

the purveyor of the social gangrene.

Don’t spill out the unguarded words they feed you with

 to fester sour wounds of the dark days much like septic needles,

multiplying our pain and heightening our wail.

Yea, let us slow down on the divisive acts

that plunge Africa into perpetual wahala

and amplify the sisters’ tears many fold.

Stop acting like it’s only your brother who needs food,

let the people have their bread too

lest their fury burst like a volcanic earthquake

to smash all we’ve built over the years,

setting us back to the stone age.

Surely, it must be no complex puzzle to pursue peace

From day one nature bestowed it on us

as imprinted in our DNA .

Make no mistake about this: fairness is the key,

we can only have peace when we

Provide Equal Access to the Country’s Economy

Let it be!

Let peace be!

The Word

Spoken from heavenly heights
descending to these earthly realms
the word dwells among us,
ever transcending yet sure,
ever potent,
directing our course
to the end of time.
 Selah!

Knowledge is free

Don't sharpen your legal axes
only to hack the members
of the knowledge tree
you should know
knowledge, like a baobab tree,
cannot be encircled wth one's hands.

Ask Kwaku Ananse, the tricky spider
who dared,
racking his brains to near-explosion,
to gather all wisdom known to humans
the return of all his drudgery
t'was futile indeed!

Truth is you don't know it all
you can't know it all
neither can I stake such a claim
why don't we instead drink
from our common wisdom pot
gaining nourishment, strengthening everyone
for the world's good?

Knowledge is one ware
though shared remains still
and grows many folds
like microbes in a rich medium.
Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu,
the world's knowledge belongs to us all
knowledge is free!

BOOK SYNOPSIS: TALES FROM DIFFERENT TAILS, BY NANA AWERE DAMOAH

Nana Awere Damoah, an engineer and writer, is someone I admire and look up to a lot. He is about to launch his third book titled Tails from Different Tails. Read a short synopsis of what to expect from the book:

Everyone has a price and… their broom. You either name the price or find the broom that sweeps them off their feet!

October Rush
The new academic year has started and school is under siege. Reason? ‘October Rush’. Heads keep turning as students struggle to juggle academic work with relationship wahala. The freshers are tagged New Stock, sophomores as Reduce to Clear while final years are Buy One Get On Free. Follow ‘October Rush’ as it tells the intricate story of University romance. For some, it is learning the ropes, for others it is a do or die affair. Find your feet in this hot, intense, and pacey affair. The Rush is on!

Truth Floats
It is true that the one who you save the bullet for might be the one pulling the trigger. So the story goes that Kweku Ananse took the meat right out of his bosom friend, Akoto’s, mouth when he stole Ama Adoma from him. But it is also true that when they lie they will lie again because the deception never end. Amidst the lies and disloyalty truth comes to light like a calabash that has been forced in water. All said and done, did Ama fall for Kweku? How did Akoto find out about his fiancé, Ama’s, true love for him? This story teaches the values of patience, perseverance and love in the face of lies.

Dribble de Zagidibogidi
Vengeance is of God but can the human mind truly forgive and forget? Zagidibogidi (Randy) is accused of brutally raping Rose, the only lady he would catch the moon for. As things turn out, Rose is the only one who could save him from going to jail. Wicked twist? Rose has fallen into coma. But help comes from strange places. Babyface, Randy’s lawyer, vowed to do his best to prove his client’s innocence. Will justice be denied by it being delayed? Could there be some unfinished business with Babyface on Get Even Day? Revenge must be sweet when served cold and slowly…it is payback time! Yes, a broken mirror can be patched but the crack will forever be there.

Hope Undeferred
The elders say women are supposed to sell garden eggs not gun powder. But Araba’s heart aches for Kwesi. What risks can a young lady take in making her love known to the man she loves? Should she go ahead and propose love? For the most haunted spinster in Assin Kabrofo, it is only a matter of time before she loses heartthrob Kwesi. This unwritten law in African setting is eating away this beautiful village queen. But do African gods condone breaking gender ranks? Hope can only be held onto with hands and feet. And with prayer that it is not dashed to pieces as pottery on the rocks that line the banks of River Ankobra.

Kojo Nkrabeah
The only stories villagers hear of the city is that of glamour with streets paved with gold, money hanging on trees and the taps overflowing with milk and honey. This story shatters the dream of city life for Kojo Nkrabeah and Akwasi Poku. Akilipee has come to Moseaso from the city with well embellished stories. These stories lured the orphaned Kojo Nkrabeah and his friend, Akwasi Poku. In their haste to escape their mundane village lives, they learn the hard way where the grass is green. This is not your ordinary village-to-city story but one that immerses the reader into the best of both worlds.

Guardian of the Rented Well
Akos is a married woman who wants her book published. Benson wants everything in skirt. How does he draw the line between pleasure with this taken lady and the business at hand? This story shows the resolve of married women and the extent to which they go to show or betray love and trust.

Was it Akos who coveted Benson to get her way? Or it was Benson who risked his life guarding the rented well. What has all this got to do with Lieutenant Patrick Atiemo? Something has to give, but what? Follow this maze of a crazy love affair gone terribly wrong …

Face to Face – Trotro Palaver
If you have not taken a trotro, aka troski in Ghana, then either you are not a Ghanaian or haven’t visited Ghana. The ordinary man’s means of transportation in Ghana comes with lots of hustle and drama. The tight seating arrangements, the conversations, the potpourri of smells the laughter, gossips, the political debates as well as the twists, turns and trickery to outwit the police. This adventure brings you face to face as we take a short winding yet hilarious ride in the old Morris troski, with registration number ABC 4037. Join Akwasi the aplanke (drivers mate) who holds a PhD in cunning, slippery mathematics and his master, Massa Kojo, the man who uses a toothpick in his mouth like a ceiling brush, as they drive us from Pig Farm to Circle.... vroooooommmmmm.......Away bus!

Project Akoma
When the heart decides, it is the mind that plans. A message sent to the mind simply reads: “I have found my desire—my missing rib,” and sets the brain in motion. Stories of human love always go with sorrow, joy, deceit, unfailing dedication and jealousy. To win the heart of this striking beauty of eve’s daughter, he must climb the seven skies and back, he must scale the China wall to profess love and win her heart. A moving rollercoaster of a love story which takes readers through the steps to win Adjoa’s heart. This was so delicate and complicated it had to be handled like a final year project work on a University campus. Was this another happily ever after tale or a masterpiece of storytelling with sting at the very end?


Tales from Different Tails will be launched on 1 December 2011 at the Teacher's Hall Complex near Workers' College and Tigo Headoffice, Adabraka, Accra, at 6pm. This is Nana Awere Damoah's third book, the first two being Excursions in My Mind (2008) and Through the Gates of Thought (2010).